Dr.

Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group

Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
1
A Comparison of J. Oliver Buswells Mid-Trib Position
with the Pre-Wrath Rapture View

A little over a year ago, I was reading through Buswells A Systematic Theology of the
Christian Religion in preparation for a lecture on the mid-tribulational rapture position.
1
I was
immediately struck by some of the similarities between Buswell and the more recent pre-wrath
rapture view advanced by Robert Van Kampen and Marv Rosenthal. After asking a friend to
review Buswell to make sure the correlation was not just in my imagination, I thought it fruitful
to present a comparison of the two views in this forum. The significance of such a correlation
might mean that (1) the pre-wrath rapture position is not so new since the general framework for
it exists in the classical mid-trib position of Buswell, and (2) it has essentially been refuted in
the past long before its own formal presentation. This is especially noteworthy in light of the
claims by proponents of the pre-wrath view that it is eclectic in its choosing of what is good from
most other rapture positions.

The Mid-Trib Position of J. Oliver Buswell

J. Oliver Buswell was a professor and the third president of Wheaton College (1926-
1940). This tenure was followed by a brief stay at Faith Theological Seminary. From 1941 to
1956 he served as President of what was to become Shelton College in New York City. From
1956 until the later years in his life, Buswell held the position of Dean of the Graduate Faculty at
Covenant College and Seminary in St.Louis, Missouri. Throughout his ministry he taught
philosophy and theology. Although the author of several books, he is best known for his original
two volume systematic theology which was mentioned earlier. He earned a Ph.D. from New
York University but also received honorary doctorates from the Evangelical Theological College
(later Dallas Seminary) in 1927 and Houghton College in 1936.
2

Buswell was a leader among conservative Presbyterians who championed a premillennial
yet mid-tribulational view of the rapture of the Church. His presentation is sometimes difficult to
follow. Nonetheless, he shows a deep and abiding love for the details of the Word of God. He is
usually careful to tell you when he is speculating and when he is exegeting what he believes to be
a clear text. For our purposes here, several points emerge in his basic scheme for the mid-trib
rapture:

The first 3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70
th
Week see nothing more than general trials and troubles
that the world always goes through.
The Antichrist is revealed with the abomination of desolation half way through the 70
th

week.
The two witnesses of Rev. 11 are killed half way through the 70
th
week.
During the 3 1/2 days when the dead bodies of the two witnesses are left in the streets to be
seen, Christians will experience tremendous and intense tribulation. This tribulation is not
characterized as the wrath of God but as the wrath of man.

1
Throughout this study the one volume compilation of the original two volumes is being used, J.
Oliver Buswell, A Systematic Theology of the Christian Religion, reprint ed., (Grand Rapids: Zondervan,
1973). Hereafter, this work shall be cited as simply Buswell.
2
One wonders if Buswell held to the mid-trib view at the time that he was granted his honorary
doctorate from the Evangelical Theological College.
Dr. Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group
Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
2
At the end of the 3 1/2 days, the two witnesses are resurrected and raptured (Rev. 11:11-12)
which is a picture of the rapture of the Church. This is associated with the 7
th
trumpet in
Rev. 11:15 (which in turn is associated with the trumpet of I Cor. 15:52 -- "at the last
trumpet").
At this point, the Church is raptured and joins Christ in the air.
Four things could be said about the remaining 3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70
th
week:
1. Christ remains in the air with his saints for the next 3 1/2 years watching the ensuing
developments on earth.
2. The millennial reign of Christ begins and, thus, overlaps the judgments of the vials.
3. The wrath of God is poured out on the earth.
4. Antichrist generally prevails on earth.
At the end of the 70
th
week of Daniel, Christ stops his watching and comes down to earth
with His saints to destroy Antichrist and to continue his millennial reign on the earth.

Although Buswell comes across as a man of conviction concerning all of these things, he does so
with a demeanor of humility. His greatest criticisms are directed not against his premillennial
brothers with different tribulational views, but against preterists whose teachings often
questioned or obscured the reality of a literal Second Coming.
3
For an example of his
undogmatic and charitable spirit, one can review his discussion of the seven trumpet judgments.
4

An overview of Buswell's position can be seen in the diagram below.




3
Buswell, 400.
4
Ibid., 442.
Buswells View of the End Times:
Daniels 70th Week
Start of the Millennial Kingdom
3 1/2 years
3 1/2
days
The
Revealing
of
Antichrist
T
R
I
B
U
L
A
T
I
O
N
The Rapture = 7th Trumpet
The
Wrath
of God =
Vials
Christ and saints visible in heaven
Antichrist prevails on earth
Wrath of God poured out on earth

Dr. Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group
Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
3
The Position of the Pre-Wrath Rapture

Robert Van Kampen, the inventor of the pre-wrath rapture position, has told us that his
view has found the common denominator that harmonizes or reconciles the basic truths that both
pretribulationalism and posttribulationalism had wrongfully isolated.
5
The common denominator
or key that unlocked everything for him was identification of the cosmic sign given in Matt.
24:29-31.
6
He makes the astounding claim that

Within a few hours of comparing Scripture with Scripture, I realized that, by God's
grace, I had found the common denominator that made the biblical truths of both
pretribulationism and posttribulationism come together perfectly, without contradiction,
inconsistency, or unreconciled passages.
7


Two important considerations emerge from this statement. First of all, there is the claim that the
pre-wrath view takes the good from both the pre-trib and post-trib positions. In this sense, the
pre-wrath rapture view is seen as an eclectic view. Equally important, however, is the absence of
any mention of the mid-trib view in his discussion here. Why no mention? It could be that he is
dealing with the two major views that have existed. However, should he not have wrestled with
the good points in the mid-trib view as well to see how that position contributed to the issue?
Perhaps it also has something to do with the fact that the pre-wrath view has a similar, although
not identical, framework. In light of the discussion above, Buswell can easily be heard saying
the same thing.
The best expression of the pre-wrath rapture view has been given by Marv Rosenthal:
8


The first 3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70
th
week are the beginning of sorrows but do not constitute
any wrath of God, only the trials and tribulations of life. In fact, Rosenthal insists that the
word "tribulation" is never used for the first half of Daniel's 70
th
Week.
9

The term "Great Tribulation" applies to a second period of Daniel's 70
th
Week for which
there is intense tribulation or persecution of Christians. This period lasts an indeterminate
amount of time but less than 3 1/2 years. Most of the diagrams show it ending half way
through the last 3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70
th
Week.
10

The first six seals cover the time from the beginning of Daniel's 70
th
Week until the end of
the Great Tribulation (roughly 5 1/4 years). In their entirety they constitute the wrath of man
through Antichrist.
The sixth seal marks the coming of cosmic signs that precede the trumpet judgments.
The Lord raptures the Church at the end of the Great Tribulation.
The Day of the Lord is the time of God's wrath that covers roughly the last half of the second
3 1/2 years of Daniel's 70
th
Week. This follows the rapture of the Church. This time of
wrath is God's anger poured out on all mankind including Israel and the nations.

5
Robert Van Kampen, The Rapture Question Answered: Plain and Simple, (Grand Rapids:
Fleming H. Revell, 1997), 46-47.
6
Ibid., 47.
7
Ibid.
8
Marvin Rosenthal, The Pre-Wrath Rapture of the Church, (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990).
9
Ibid., 103-08. Rosenthal in making this observation has failed to read his Greek New Testament
carefully in Matthew 24:9.
10
Ibid., 108-110.
Dr. Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group
Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
4
This time of God's wrath actually extends for thirty days after the end of Daniel's 70
th
Week
as God's bowl judgments are poured out on the nations who persecuted Israel. This thirty
days is based upon Daniel 12:11.























Main Differences Between Buswell and Pre-Wrath Rapturists

The purpose of this paper is not to prove that the two views are identical. There are, in
fact, some points of serious disagreement. First, pre-wrath rapturists place the rapture
immediately before the trumpet judgments that make up the wrath of God. The sixth seal given
in Rev. 6:12-17 heralds this wrath and the multitude of the redeemed that are shown in heaven in
Rev. 7 represent the raptured saints. The seventh seal then introduces the seven trumpet
judgments.
On the other hand, Buswell places the rapture at the other end of the trumpets, in
particular, with the seventh trumpet. The rapture is pictured not by the multitude in Rev. 7. In
that passage, Buswell follows the interpretation of many pretribulationalists who see that group
as saved martyrs who "meet death in a troublous time."
11
Instead, concerning the rapture
Buswell argues

It is my opinion that in the coming to life and Rapture of the two witnesses (Rev. 11:11ff.)
we have an exact synchronization of events. The two witnesses are caught up into heaven
"in the cloud" at the same moment that the elect of God are caught up together in clouds to
the meeting of the Lord in the air (I Corinthians 15:52; I Thessalonians 4:13-18).
12


11
Buswell, 439-40.
12
Ibid., 456.
PRE-WRATH RAPTURE
Daniels 70th Week
3 1/2 years 3 1/2 years
Midpoint:
Abomination
of Desolation
Antichrist
Signs
Covenant
The Beginning of Sorrows
1
Great
Tribulation
The Day of
the Lord =
Gods Wrath
2 3
Seal Judgments
Trumpets

Dr. Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group
Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
5

Consequently, the actual placing of the rapture within the argument of the Book of Revelation is
different for Buswell.
A second, but related, difference between pre-wrath proponents and Buswell is the key
passage that is used to unlock the timing of the wrath of God. For Rosenthal's pre-wrath view it
is Rev. 6:12-17. The cosmic signs of this passage (v. 12-14) are synchronized with many other
passages in the Old Testament and with the Olivet Discourse (see Mt. 24:29). In particular,
Rosenthal sees the language of Rev. 6:17, "For the great day of his wrath is come," to signify that
the wrath of God is about to occur. It has not been occurring prior to this time. The grounds for
this conclusion is a belief that the Greek for "is come" is a dramatic aorist. In fact, Rosenthal's
entire scheme collapses if he is wrong on this point.
13
His view uses this dramatic announcement
to point ahead to the silence that follows the seventh seal which in turn anticipates the seven
trumpets as the wrath of God. Consequently, the rapture of the Church takes place immediately
after this dramatic announcement and before the seven trumpets.
Contrary to this approach, Buswell dismisses the aorist statement as "but a reaction of
the ungodly to cosmic disaster."
14
Also, unlike Rosenthal, he targets the announcement of the
arrival of God's anger given in John's presentation of the seventh trumpet in Rev. 11:18.
15

Buswell comments

But not only does the seventh trumpet announce the beginning of the earthly reign of Christ,
the voices of the twenty-four elders further announce, "The nations were angry and Thy
wrath has come and the time . . . to destroy those who are destroying the earth." These
words, I believe, refer to the outpouring of the vials of the wrath of God, and the destruction
of the Beast and the False Prophet, and of the armies of the Beast.
16


He goes on to highlight the following announcement of rewards for the saints (v. 24) which he
correlates to I Cor. 15:51-52.
17
With the last trumpet established, he believes his case is made.
There are many other exegetical details that are at variance between Buswell and the pre-
wrath advocates. However, these two seem to be perhaps the most important.

Similarities Between Buswell and the Pre-Wrath Rapturists

In spite of the differences there are a number of striking and revealing similarities
between the two approaches. First, and foremost, a three-fold division within Daniel's 70
th
Week
is taught by both systems. This shared general framework makes one consider the possibility that
the pre-wrath view is just a variation of the earlier mid-trib view. Note the chart below:

13
For an excellent rebuttal of points such as these in the pre-wrath view, see Arnold G.
Fruchtenbaum, "Is There a Pre-Wrath Rapture?" in When the Trumpet Sounds, edited by Thomas Ice and
Timothy Demy, (Eugene, Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 1995), 381-411.
14
Buswell, 436.
15
Ibid., 457. It is interesting to note that neither Buswell nor Rosenthal see the potential problem
in taking only one of the passages as a dramatic aorist with immediate application. The choice of one or the
other is quite arbitrary considering all of the other points of correlation.
16
Ibid.
17
Ibid., 457-58.
Dr. Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group
Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
6

Area of Similarity Buswell's Mid-Trib View Pre-Wrath Rapture View
Three-fold division of Daniel's
70
th
Week
First 3 1/2 years not the
wrath of God


The Great Tribulation
equals the persecution of
believers while the dead
bodies of the two
witnesses are on display
for 3 1/2 days -- this
begins at the midpoint of
the seven years and is not
the wrath of God

The pouring out of the
Wrath of God which is the
vial judgments
First 3 1/2 years is the
beginning of sorrows and
is not the wrath of God

The Great Tribulation
which is part of the wrath
of man through Antichrist
beings at the midpoint of
the seven years





The Day of the Lord
which is God's wrath
(trumpet and vial
judgments)

It is not clear whether Buswell's scheme is symmetrical with the 3 1/2 days in the middle of the
two 3 1/2 year halves or if the 3 1/2 days begin the last 3 1/2 years. His wording allows for both
interpretations. Other views such as the pre-trib and post-trib positions generally divide the
tribulation into two parts, namely, tribulation and great tribulation, along the lines of Jesus'
wording in the Olivet Discourse.
18
The mid-trib and pre-wrath views might suggest that various
biblical passages are forcing the similarities. Regardless, for the purposes of this paper, that
might suggest that the pre-wrath view really is a form of the mid-trib position rather than being a
brand new view.
Second, I must confess a certain puzzlement over the lack of emphasis on the actual
coming of Christ to the earth in the writings of the pre-wrath advocates. Perhaps this is because
the controversy is primarily over the timing of the rapture. The diagrams certainly appear to
affirm the second of two phases of the coming of Christ. Yet, at times, the position seems to
focus on the rapture as an end and not as a kind of beginning. Commenting on Mt. 24:13 (he that
endures to the end will be saved), Rosenthal notes

Even further within the seventieth week, there is still no final harvest -- no separation of the
wheat and the tares. And if, as some suggest, the end occurs at the conclusion of the
seventieth week, then what are these people being saved (delivered) from? If, on the other
hand, the Rapture occurs, as the thesis of this book contends, immediately prior to the
opening of the seventh seal, then those believers who endure to the end . . . will be saved
(delivered) from the Day of the Lord wrath.
19


When I first saw this emphasis I wondered if the pre-wrath advocates were trying to maintain a
kind of unity in the Second Coming much like the post-tribulationists. However, after reading
Buswell, I now wonder if that thought should be directed toward the classical mid-trib view. We

18
Rosenthal makes much of the two-fold division in his criticisms of the pre-trib position, 103-13.
19
Ibid., 227.
Dr. Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group
Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
7
had noted above that Buswell believed that the millennial kingdom began at the seventh trumpet
and rapture of the Church even though Daniel's 70
th
Week had not finished. He bases this largely
on the passages announcing the kingdom of Christ in Rev. 11:15-17. In another section,
commenting on Rev. 19:11-16, he says

John says, "I saw heaven standing open." Literally, the perfect passive participle, "having
been opened," is harmonious with my speculative suggestion that Christ is visible with His
glorified saints in heaven throughout the three and one half year period during which the
Antichrist is allowed to prevail upon the earth.
20


In other words, there is a kind of unity between the rapture and what follows. This unity
minimizes the two phases of the coming of Christ. The start of the kingdom at the rapture makes
the rapture an end just like in the pre-wrath rapture view. Buswell does not emphasize at all the
actual coming of Christ to set His feet on the Mount of Olives. At the least, the Second Coming
itself is minimized in light of this kingdom teaching which casts an erroneous shadow of unity
from the rapture to the defeat of Antichrist.
A third similarity between Buswell and pre-wrath is the strong distinction held between
the wrath of man and the wrath of God. In doing this, both views take the first two time periods
within Daniel's 70
th
Week and minimize the direct work of God (all in contradiction to
Revelation 4-5 as an introduction to the entire seven years). While strongly affirming that the
wrath of God is not for the church, Buswell notes that "tribulation is the common lot of the
church in every age."
21
He references passages like Acts 14:21(it is necessary for us, through
many tribulations, to enter the kingdom of God) and 1 Thess. 3:3-4 (we should suffer tribulation)
with this in mind. Furthermore, he argues that "tribulation is, generally speaking, from the wrath
of man."
22
Rosenthal labels all of the seal judgments (which take up the first two periods of
Daniel's 70
th
Week) as man's wrath through Antichrist.
23
Both Rosenthal and Van Kampen also
highlight Satan's wrath as working during this time to heighten the distinction from the later
wrath of God.
24
Rosenthal asserts that "the seals are not God's wrath; they are God's promise of
eternal protection during man's wrath, a wrath precipitated by the Antichrist who is empowered
by Satan (Rev. 13:4)."
25

Related to the discussion above is the teaching in both pre-wrath and mid-trib views that
the time of Jacob's trouble, the time of intense tribulation or Great Tribulation, can not be
identified with the wrath of God. Concerning the time of Jacob's trouble, Buswell notes that
"this most terrible time of trouble is not to be identified with the time of the wrath of God."
26
He
also alludes to the fact that the vials of God's wrath are a time that is often mistakenly identified
with the Great Tribulation.
27
Van Kampen plainly asserts that "the persecution by Antichrist
during the great tribulation will be the wrath of Satan (Rev. 12:12), not the wrath of God."
28
In
addition, both writers relate this idea to the predictions of cosmic upheavals.
29


20
Buswell, 483.
21
Ibid., 389.
22
Ibid.
23
Rosenthal, 147.
24
Rosenthal, 145; Van Kampen, 56-58.
25
Rosenthal, 145.
26
Buswell, 389.
27
Ibid.
28
Van Kampen, 47.
29
Van Kampen, 47; Buswell, 389.
Dr. Mike Stallard Pre-Trib Study Group
Baptist Bible Seminary Dallas, Texas
December 15, 1998
8
Finally, both positions use the prediction in Mt. 24:29 to help pinpoint the time of the
wrath of God. In that verse, Jesus commented that there would be cosmic signs immediately
after the "tribulation of those days" which days are taken to refer to the Great Tribulation. To be
sure, both views link differently. The pre-wrath view links this verse to Rev. 6:12-14 and
establishes the rapture and the beginning of the day of the Lord wrath with that in mind. The
mid-trib scenario of Buswell goes to the cosmic signs, which are part of the vials themselves, in
Rev. 16 (see also Rev. 11:13).
30
However, both argue that there are special cosmic signs which
follow the Great Tribulation and precede the wrath of God.

Conclusion

What is the significance of the comparison of the pre-wrath view to Buswell's mid-trib
view? For one thing, it has helped me to categorize the pre-wrath view more clearly. Perhaps
one cannot be dogmatic about these things. However, the level of differences between the pre-
wrath view and the mid-trib view is really not much different than the level of exegetical
distinctions that exist among various members of the Pre-Trib Study Group. We share our core
commitment to the pre-trib rapture while joyfully studying the details together within the
framework of much diversity. Consequently, when I think about the great number of similarities
between the rather recent pre-wrath view and the slightly older mid-trib view, I will probably in
the future share the pre-wrath position as a variation of the mid-trib view. It is becoming
increasingly difficult for me to consider it as an innovative view based upon claims to new
insights.

30
Buswell, 389.